Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on February 7, 2021

The fourth annual edition of an award for up-and-coming talent honored two artists with sterling credentials.

On Saturday night, theLetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award went to alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, from Philadelphia, Pa., and trumpeter Itamar Borochov, from Tel Aviv, Israel. The announcement was made during a virtual ceremony broadcast by WBGO, hosted by singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum.

Also featured in the broadcast were this year's lead jurist, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington; vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater; and bassist and composer Christian McBride. Interspersed through the event were excerpts of performances by past LetterOne Rising Stars, including French guitarist Tom Ibarra, vibraphonist Sasha Berliner, Danish pianist Kathrine Windfield and Bahamanian trumpeter Giveton Gelin.

By design, the award goes to one winner from Europe and one from the United States, granting each the opportunity to appear at major jazz festivals on their respective continents, along with resources for marketing and promotion.

Borochov, born in 1984, should be a familiar name to many on the New York scene. He studied in the New School jazz program beginning in 2007, and spent several years playing at Smalls, among other venues. In his acceptance speech, he thanked pianist and bebop guru Barry Harris, one of his mentors in NYC.

His music infuses state-of-the-art postbop with melodic elements from his Sephardic heritage; at present he is based in Jerusalem, where he just recorded a new work with a string quartet.

Wilkins, 23, grew up in Upper Darby, Pa., and has been a force on the ground in New York since his arrival in 2015. His new album, Omega,is one of the most acclaimed debuts in recent memory. Just this week, he and his quartet released an NPR Music Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, recorded at Sear Sound in New York.

In their remarks, both Borochov and Wilkins expressed not only gratitude but also eagerness to take advantage of the opportunity that the Rising Stars Jazz Award represents: principally, a series of high-profile bookings at actual festivals. The picture is still evolving on that front in his remarks, McBride, speaking as artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival, hinted that there will hopefully besomethinghappening this summer, in some form but whatever the case, Wilkins and Borochov are both well on their way.

WBGO is the exclusive broadcast partner of the LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award.

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Immanuel Wilkins and Itamar Borochov Have Won the LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award - wbgo.org

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Posted By admin on February 7, 2021

The family of Dr. Albert Bourla of Thessaloniki, Greece, before the war. Bourlas mother Sara is the young girl in the middle of the photograph. Credit: Dr. Albert Bourla/LinkedIn

If it hadnt been for the kindness of an uncle and the insight of his grandfather, Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla, a Thessaloniki native, would never have been born.

A descendant of the Jews of Greeces second-largest city, Bourlas ancestors, like those of almost all the Thessaloniki Jews, had come to the country after the edict of 1492 in Spain. Invited to live in the country by the Ottoman overlords at the time, they put down roots and actually flourished there, in peace and freedom, for centuries.

But the scourge of Nazi occupation brought a horrific end to tens of thousands of these people, wiping much of Thessalonikis Jewish population off the map, robbing most of the Jewish population there of its future.

The Bourla family. Credit: Pfizer

As many as 48,000 Thessalonians of Jewish heritage were deported from their home city, never to return, during World War II. A small remnant of 2,000 people still live there today, however the descendants of those who were fortunate enough to hide or escape the clutches of their occupiers.

Speaking to the groupSephardic Heritage International on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Dr. Bourla related the harrowing story of his family during the War and for the first time ever, told the world that if it hadnt been for his mother and father hiding and escaping execution at the last minute, he wouldnt be here today.

And of course, it wouldnt be he who is at the helm of Pfizer, one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies. Would the world have received its first coronavirus vaccine within ten months of the virus arriving on American shores if it had been someone else at the helm of the company? No one will ever know.

Credit: Pfizer

Bourla posted the video of his eloquent speech and a transcript of his remarks to his LinkedIn account:

Remembrance. Its this word, perhaps more than any other, that inspired me to share my parents story. Thats because I recognize how fortunate I am that my parents shared their stories with me and the rest of our family.

Many Holocaust survivors never spoke to their children of the horrors they endured because it was too painful. But we talked about it a great deal in my family. Growing up in Thessaloniki, Greece, we would get together with our cousins on the weekends, and my parents, aunts and uncles would often share their stories.

They did this because they wanted us to remember. To remember all the lives that were lost. To remember what can happen when the virus of evil is allowed to spread unchecked. But, most importantly, to remember the value of a human life.

You see, when my parents spoke of the Holocaust, they never spoke of anger or revenge. They didnt teach us to hate those who did this to our family and friends. Instead they spoke of how lucky they were to be alive and how we all needed to build on that feeling, celebrate life and move forward. Hatred would only stand in the way.

So, in that spirit, Im here to share the story of Mois and Sara Bourla, my beloved parents.

Our ancestors had fled Spain in the late 15th century, after King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree, which mandated that all Spanish Jews either convert to Catholicism or be expelled from the country. They eventually settled in Ottoman Thessaloniki, which later became part of Greece following its liberation from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.

Before Hitler began his march through Europe, there was a thriving Sephardic Jewish community in Thessaloniki. So much so that it was known as La Madre de Israel or The Mother of Israel. Within a week of the occupation, however, the Germans had arrested the Jewish leadership, evicted hundreds of Jewish families and confiscated their apartments. And it took them less than three years to accomplish their goal of exterminating the community. When the Germans invaded Greece, there were approximately 50,000 Jews living in the city. By the end of the war, only 2,000 had survived.

Lucky for me, both of my parents were among the 2,000.

My fathers family, like so many others, had been forced from their home and taken to a crowded house within one of the Jewish ghettos. It was a house they had to share with several other Jewish families. They could circulate in and out of the ghetto, as long as they were wearing the yellow star.

But one day in March 1943, the ghetto was surrounded by occupation forces, and the exit was blocked. My father, Mois, and his brother, Into, were outside when this happened. When they approached, they met their father, who also was outside. He told them what was happening and asked them to leave and hide. But he had to go in because his wife and his two other children were home. Later that day, my grandfather, Abraham Bourla, his wife, Rachel, his daughter, Graciela, and his younger son, David, were taken to a camp outside the train station. From there they left for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Mois and Into never saw them again.

The same night, my father and uncle escaped to Athens, where they were able to obtain fake IDs with Christian names. They got the IDs from the head of police, who at the time was helping Jews escape the persecution of the Nazis. They lived there until the end of the war all the while having to pretend that they were not Jews that they were not Mois and Into but rather Manolis and Vasilis.

When the German occupation ended, they went back to Thessaloniki and found that all their property and belongings had been stolen or sold. With nothing to their name, they started from scratch, becoming partners in a successful liquor business that they ran together until they both retired.

My moms story also was one of having to hide in her own land of narrowly escaping the horrors of Auschwitz and of family bonds that sustained her spirit and, quite literally, saved her life.

Like my fathers family, my moms family was relocated to a house within the ghetto. My mother was the youngest girl of seven children. Her older sister had converted to Christianity to marry a Christian man she had fallen in love with before the war, and she and her husband were living in another city where no one knew that she had previously been a Jew. At that time mixed weddings were not accepted by society, and my grandfather wouldnt talk to his eldest daughter because of this.

But when it became clear that the family was going to head to Poland, where the Germans had promised a new life in a Jewish settlement, my grandfather asked his eldest daughter to come and see him. In this last meeting they ever had, he asked her to take her youngest sister my mom with her.

There my mom would be safe because no one knew that she or her sister were of Jewish heritage. The rest of the family went by train straight to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Toward the end of the war, my moms brother-in-law was transferred back to Thessaloniki. People knew my mom there, so she had to hide in the house 24 hours a day out of fear of being recognized and turned over to the Germans. But she was still a teenager, and every so often, she would venture outside. Unfortunately, during one of those walks, she was spotted and arrested.

She was sent to a local prison. It was not good news. It was well known that every day around noon, some of the prisoners would be loaded on a truck to be transferred to another location where the next dawn they would be executed. Knowing this, her brother-in-law, my dearest Christian uncle, Kostas Dimadis, approached Max Merten, a known war criminal who was in charge of the Nazi occupation forces in the city.

He paid Merten a ransom in exchange for his promise that my mom would not be executed. But her sister, my aunt, didnt trust the Germans. So, she would go to the prison every day at noon to watch as they loaded the truck that would transfer the prisoners to the execution site. And one day she saw what she had been afraid of: my mom being put on the truck.

She ran home and told her husband who immediately called Merten. He reminded him of their agreement and tried to shame him for not keeping his word. Merten said he would look into it and then abruptly hung up the phone.

That night was the longest in my aunt and uncles life because they knew the next morning, my mom would likely be executed. The next day on the other side of town my mom was lined up against a wall with other prisoners. And moments before she would have been executed, a soldier on a BMW motorcycle arrived and handed some papers to the man in charge of the firing squad.

They removed from the line my mom and another woman. As they rode away, my mom could hear the machine-gun fire slaughtering those that were left behind. Its a sound that stayed with her for the rest of her life.

Two or three days later, she was released from prison. And just a few weeks after that, the Germans left Greece.

Fast forward eight years and my parents were introduced by their families in a typical-for-the-time matchmaking. They liked each other and agreed to marry. They had two children me and my sister, Seli.

My father had two dreams for me. He wanted me to become a scientist and was hoping I would marry a nice Jewish girl. I am happy to say that he lived long enough to see both dreams come true. Unfortunately, he died before our children were born but my mom did live long enough to see them, which was the greatest of blessings.

So, that is the story of Mois and Sara Bourla. Its a story that had a great impact on my life and my view of the world, and it is a story that, for the first time today, I share publicly.

However, when I received the invitation to speak at this event at this moment in time when racism and hatred are tearing at the fabric of our great nation I felt it was the right time to share the story of two simple people who loved, and were loved by, their family and friends. Two people who stared down hatred and built a life filled with love and joy. Two people whose names are known by very few but whose story has now been shared with the members of the United States Congress the worlds greatest and most just legislative body. And that makes their son very proud.

This brings me back to remembrance. As time marches on and todays event shrinks in our rearview mirrors, I wouldnt expect you to remember my parents names, but I implore you to remember their story. Because remembering gives each of us the conviction, the courage and the compassion to take the necessary actions to ensure their story is never repeated.

Thank you again for the invitation to speak today. And thank you for remembering.Stay safe and stay well.

Continued here:

Parents of Pfizer CEO Bourla Narrowly Escaped Death in Holocaust - Greek Reporter

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Posted By admin on February 7, 2021

By Ilana Siyance

On early Monday morning, police confirmed that an intruder stole six ceremonial crowns from an Orthodox synagogue in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn.

As reported by the NY Post, police have video footage showing that at about 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the suspect entered the Congregation Beth El of Flatbush synagogue, an Orthodox Sephardic Shul located on East 3rd Street by Avenue U. As per authorities, the NYPD released the footage which shows the burglar as he paced around the synagogue, picking up and moving things and placing things in a bag. The video then shows him stealing the impressive sacred crowns before making his exit. The monetary value of the ceremonial Torah crowns is estimated to be close to $8,200.

According to police, there were no signs of a forced entry, but it is not known how the intruder entered the synagogue. The suspect has not yet been identified. As of Monday, he is still on the loose and being sought after. The surveillance video is being circulated in hopes of apprehending the culprit.

Anyone with information is asked to call The NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS, or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA. A tip can also be submitted via their website or on Twitter, @NYPDTips. Callers will be kept confidential.

At the end of December, WABC News reported that the NYPD were investigating a string of vandalized synagogues in Brooklyn as a potential hate crime. The police said they were trying to identify the man who scrawled graffiti at four synagogues on a Shabbat morning at the end of the month.

The vandal was accused of breaking into a synagogue in Midwood, damaging two cabinets and stealing $20.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the state police Hate Crimes Task Force to assist the NYPD in that investigation.

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Burglar Takes Off with Ceremonial Torah Crowns from Bklyn Synagogue - The Jewish Voice

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Posted By admin on February 7, 2021

This year will mark the 365th anniversary of one of the most remarkable turning points in English history: the readmission of Jews to England.

Early History of Jews in England

A small number of Jews lived in England since Roman and Anglo-Saxon times, but they only became an organized community under William the Conqueror in 1066. He encouraged Jewish merchants and artisans to move from northern France to England, where they fared very well financially.

Shortly afterward, English Jews began to experience severe anti-Semitism; they were subject to several blood libels and accusations that they desecrated Christian religious symbols. Concurrent with the coronation of Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) in 1189, anti-Jewish riots broke out in London and spread to other towns. The Jews of York were locked in a castle and, knowing that they were trapped, the Tosafist Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny urged them to kill themselves rather than face painful death at the hands of the mob or forced baptism.

Under Henry III of England, Jews were required to wear a marking badge. They were also subject to tremendous financial persecution. The Second Barons War in the 1260s brought a series of attacks on Jewish communities in England and, in London alone, 500 Jews were tragically killed.

Expulsion

Ultimately, the Jews were banished from England by Edward I. His motivation was partly financial: once they were expelled, their possessions became the crowns property.

On July 18, 1290, the Edict of Expulsion was issued. Writs were issued to the sheriffs of all English counties ordering them to enforce the edict, which expelled Jews from the country by November 1. Jews were only permitted to carry with them their movable property.

Sadly, the Edict of Expulsion was widely popular and met with little resistance by the gentile population. (England was actually the first European country to expel Jews.) The majority of the expelled English Jews settled in France and Germany.

Early Life of R Menashe Ben Israel

R Menashe was born on Portugals Madeira Island in 1604 with the marrano/converso name Manoel Dias Soeiro. His family moved to the Netherlands in 1610.

Amsterdam was an important center of Jewish life in Europe at this time. It was here that R Menashes family openly returned to Yiddishkeit. R Menashe was given the best possible education in the Sephardic tradition. He excelled in his Talmudic studies and possessed a thorough knowledge of Tanach. He was fluent in the spectrum of Jewish thought from the rationalistic school of the Rambam to the writings of the later mekubalim.

R Menashe also received a comprehensive secular education. He was fluent in 10 languages and had a broad knowledge of medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. He was also well-read in classical literature and the writings of early Christian theologians.

When Chacham Uziel died in 1620, R Menashe was proclaimed rabbi of the Sephardic community at the astonishingly young age of 18 and soon became one of the most famous preachers in the new center of Sephardic Jewry.

Shortly after taking this position, R Menashe married Rachel Soeiro, a direct descendant of Rabbi Don Yitzchok Abarbanel, with whom he had three children.

R Menashe rose to eminence, not only as a rabbi and an author, but also as a printer. He established the first Hebrew press in Amsterdam (indeed, in all of Holland), named Emes MeEretz Titzmach, in 1626. His printing press employed a new typeface that was later copied by many European printing houses. Although it eventually became a flourishing business, it couldnt support his family and R Menashe suffered from poverty most of his life.

One of R Menashes earliest works, El Conciliador, published in 1632, won immediate acclaim. Written in Spanish, the work refutes the arguments of self-proclaimed Bible critics. The book was among the first written by a Jew in a modern language that also was of interest to Christian readers. Accordingly, it earned R Menashe a reputation in the learned non-Jewish world.

Over time, his fame as a scholar and expert on all matters of learning and science spread far beyond Holland. Some of the most outstanding scholars and figures of the world sought his friendship and advice. Queen Christina of Sweden, the painter Rembrandt, and the statesman and philosopher Hugo Grotius were among his non-Jewish correspondents and friends.

Yet, with all his secular knowledge and fame, R Menashe ben Israel devoted most of his time to Torah studies. In addition to defending the Torah against many critics, R Menashe wrote many other memoranda in defense of Torah ideas, including techiyas hameisim, gilgulim, and the divine origin of the soul.

And his thorough knowledge of Kabbalah motivated him to hasten Moshiachs coming, which ultimately led to the Jews return to England.

A New Idea to Bring Moshiach

In 1644, R Menashe met Antonio de Montezinos, a Portuguese Marrano Jew who had been in the New World. Montezinos convinced him that the South American Andes Indians were descendants of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. This purported discovery gave a new impulse to R Menashes messianic hopes, as the settlement of Jews throughout the world was understood to be a sign that Moshiach was coming.

Taken by this idea, R Menashe turned his attention to England, from where Jews had been expelled since 1290 and worked to get permission for them to resettle there, hoping to thus hasten Moshiachs arrival.

In 1650, he wrote The Hope of Israel which was first published in Amsterdam in Latin and Spanish in response to a 1648 letter from Scottish theologian John Dury asling about Montezinos claims. In it, he expressed the hope that the Jews would return to England to hasten Moshiachs coming. R Menashe also stressed his kinship with Parliament and explained that he was driven by amity for England rather than financial gain.

Along the same lines, in 1651 R Menashe offered to serve Queen Christina of Sweden as her agent of Hebrew books. In her discussions with her, he asked her to consider opening Scandinavia as a haven for Jewish refugees. He described the Jews being forced to wander from one country to another. He almost succeeded in his appeal, but Christina abdicated the throne and the plan didnt come to fruition.

Yet, Christina continued to have a positive relationship with Judaism and protected the Jewish community of Rome when she moved there, using her power as a former regent to do so.

Advocates Readmission of Jews to England

R Menashe attracted the notice of many Protestant theologians who, like him, were convinced of Moshiachs imminent arival and naturally desired to know the views of Jewish theologians on the matter.

With the onset of the Puritan Commonwealth, the question of the readmission of the Jews found increased Puritan support. Therefore, R Menashe wrote an introductory epistle to the English version of his Hope of Israel in 1650 addressed to the Parliament of England hoping to gain its favor and goodwill so the Jews could be readmitted to the country.

A response An Epistle to the Learned R Menashe ben Israel (1650), written by Sir Edward Spencer, member of Parliament for Middlesex insisted upon conversion to Christianity before Messianic prophecies about Israel could be fulfilled. Clearly, that wasnt up for discussion and its possible that the matter was dropped for a while for this reason.

Yet, R Menashes efforts drew the interest of Englands Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell was especially sympathetic to the Jewish cause due to his Puritan views, more tolerant leanings, and pragmatic view that the Jewish merchant would benefit English commerce.

Cromwells representative at Amsterdam was put into contact with R Menashe and a pass was issued to enable him to go to England.

Arrival in London

In November 1655, R Menashe arrived in London. In London, R Menashe published his Humble Addresses to the Lord Protector, a memorandum in which he refuted prejudices against the Jews. He also pointed out the advantages England could derive from granting the Jews permission to resettle in England and permitting Jews live according to the commands of Judaism.

Cromwell summoned the Whitehall Conference in December of 1655. (It doesnt appear that R Menashe spoke at this conference, though his pamphlet was submitted to it.) A formal declaration was made by the lawyers present at the meeting that nothing in English law prevented the settlement of Jews in England. However, the question of its desirability was ingeniously evaded by Cromwell. Public opinion was against admiting Jews, and Cromwell wished to avoid defeat on this issue in Parliament.

But the door had been opened for the Jews gradual return. John Evelyn even entered in his diary under the date December 14, 1655, Now were the Jews admitted.

Nevertheless, the process was slow despite Cromwells support and R Menashes advocacy as the British clergy and wealthy merchants did everything in their power to prevent its realization.

The first major positive result of R Menashes efforts was seen in the Robles case. Antonio Rodrigues Robles (1620-1690) was a Marrano merchant born in Fundo, Portugal. His family had suffered at the hands of the Inquisition, yet he had settled in London as a merchant in the mid-17th century and had no connection to the crypto-Jewish community.

When his property was seized as that of an enemy alien after the outbreak of war with Spain in 1656, he successfully obtained an exemption on the grounds that, although uncircumcised, he was not a Spaniard but a Portuguese of the Hebrew nation. He won the case and his land was returned to him.

In theory, the successful outcome of the Robles Case established the right of professing Jews to live in England without interference.

As a result, Jews from Holland, Spain, and Portugal came to Britain, where over time they became more and more integrated into British society. However, it was only in 1753 that English Jews were formally granted citizenship and in 1858 formal emancipation.

Despite his failure in obtaining formal permission for the resettlement of the Jews in England, R Menashe had brought the subject prominently before the ruling minds of England. He also illicted recognition of the fact that nothing in English law prevented the readmission of Jews and in 1656 a verbal promise from Cromwell, backed by the Council of State in the Robles case, to allow Jews to return to England and freely practice their faith.

In time, the results of his advocacy would prove to be even more far-reaching.

Opening America to Jews

If no law forbade the Jews return to England, that meant no law forbade Jews from relocating to the New World and live in British-controlled territories and colonies.

Thus, just as the British North American colonies were being settled by English settlers in the late 17th century, R Menashes work laid the foundation for Jews to be part of the settlement in the future United States and Canada.

Thus, in addition to reopening England to Jews, R Menashes actions also arguably opened the door for what would become the largest community of Jews in the Diaspora in the future United States of America and Canada.

Final Days and Legacy

Sadly, despite the historic achievement he is now known for, R Menashe left England a broken and penniless man, feeling he had not accomplished his purpose. He also experienced a personal tragedy when his son, Shmuel, who had accompanied him, passed away on the second day of Rosh Hashanah in 1657.

R Menashe sailed to Middelburg, Holland, where his brother-in-law lived, to bury his son. A few months later, R Menashe himself passed away, on the 14th of Kislev. He was buried in the Beis Chaim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

Yehi zichro baruch.

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Posted By admin on February 7, 2021

Inagaki Kashiten is a childs dream. Its tiny, wood-paneled room is lined with plastic jars of inexpensive dagashi candy. Kids can bash away at child-sized arcade machines, or pile mini baskets with 30-a-pop treats.

Some of the most popular include dried squid, okoshi (puffed rice crackers), mame ita (nut brittles), imo ykan (sweet potato jellies), caramels, karint (fried dough), sugar candies in various shapes and even senbei (rice crackers).

Observing this flurry of life, its hard to believe dagashiya (candy stores) like Inagaki are in decline: According to government data, the number of dagashiya has declined from 228,123 in 1972 to just 74,304 in 2016. Though comparatively unknown outside of Japan, dagashi are bright, plentiful and inexpensive, and today you can find dagashi in any 100-yen store or konbini (convenience store). That may be part of the problem.

Dagashi are sweets that somehow were considered nonstandard from an elite or adult perspective, like a horse that one is not meant to ride, explains Eric Rath, professor of history at the University of Kansas, alluding to the fact that the da in dagashi is written with an archaic counter for things one would put on a packhorse.

Their nonstandard nature is due to their less refined ingredients millet and brown sugar, for example compared to those of traditional wagashi (Japanese sweets), often used during tea ceremony. In fact, categorizing dagashi as sweets is somewhat misleading, as they can also be savory.

Even okonomiyaki (savory cabbage pancake) traces its origins to one particular type of dagashi mojiyaki, which Rath describes as flavored batter that was dropped on to a heated cooking surface often to form shapes like characters or moji (words), hence the name grilled words.

Though some scholars attribute their development to the arrival of karakudamono or karakashi (Chinese sweets) during the Heian Period (794-1185), it wasnt until the Showa Era (1926-89) that dagashi gained real traction especially for children.

Part of the fun for kids is that they might involve games of chance in which kids would stick their hands into a box and pull out a sweet or a small toy. Or pay money to pull a string from a container to see which sweet they had bought, Rath says. Also, the inexpensive cost of dagashi gave kids a sense of freedom of choice with the limited pocket money they had.

As well as the low cost, advertising in dagashiya appealed to kids with popular characters such as Ultraman and Doraemon.

From a general economic perspective, it wasnt about the candy, but about the wrapping and presentation, and the familiarization of the young coterie of Japanese who would, in time, become adult consumers, says anthropologist Michael Ashkenazi.

Dagashi, at least late Showa Era dagashi, were an exploitation of a familiar and traditional Japanese cultural practice of small insignificant snacks, dressing them in advertising that, ignoring the specifics, essentially introduced traditional Japan and Japanese to modernity in the form of a consumption culture, he continues.

But its the social aspect of dagashiya that holds sway in childrens minds; visiting one is a minors equivalent of swinging by sakariba (entertainment districts) for grown-ups.

Dagashiya are a stop between the responsibilities of school, with its social demands and restrictions, and home, with its social and scholastic demands (like homework, study, and classes), Ashkenazi says. Though convenience stores have largely stepped in to take over the consumer role, the social aspect of dagashiya has been neglected.

Rath agrees that konbini have taken the mantle from dagashiya commercially, and that the social aspect of dagashiya has been lost. Children have less free time today, he says. Visiting the dagashiya after school was a social ritual for Japanese school kids who today have to hurry off to cram school or other structured activities and do their socializing online.

With many dagashiya left in the proverbial dust, remnants of this distinct part of childhood culture can be hard to find, especially in Tokyo. Theres even self-described dagashiya hunters who make a point of tracking down and visiting original establishments.

In Showa Era, you could say dagashiya were a childrens world, one hunter, Makoto Dobashi, said in an interview. But now theyve become a place of nostalgia for adults.

One such original establishment, Kamikawaguchiya, is at Toshima Wards Kishimojin; the oldest one in Japan, it could be called the flagship dagashiya. Situated in a 19th-century wooden building, the store was established in 1781 and is run today by 80-year-old Masao Uchiyama.

It cant be helped that dagashiya are disappearing, said Uchiyama in an interview with Yahoo News last year. But there are quite a few people who say its better to buy at a store like this. Convenience stores are cheap but uninspired.

Even though a handful of traditional dagashiya remain, theres a few contemporary adaptations of dagashi for when nostalgia strikes. The popular national chain Okashi no Machioka sells many of the classic dagashi, albeit with less personality. Dagashi Bar, a Showa-retro izakaya with locations in Ebisu, Shinjuku and Shibuya, includes all-you-can-eat dagashi in the 500 cover charge. Most transportive of all, Daiba Itchome Shotengai in the Odaiba Decks Tokyo Beach mall is a wonderland of dagashi and retro arcade games.

Their heyday may be over, but the dagashiya spirit lives on as a wistful aftertaste of the 20th century.

In line with COVID-19 guidelines, the government is strongly requesting that residents and visitors exercise caution if they choose to visit bars, restaurants, music venues and other public spaces.

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Dagashiya in decline: The slow fade of a traditional sweets institution - The Japan Times

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Posted By admin on February 6, 2021

Lukas Arnold talks about his life all the time; its central to the comedy that has earned him 1.1 million followers on TikTok. And yet, the more he talks about himself, the more of an enigma he becomes.

The 25-year-old comedian and voice actors dad is Ashkenazi, with ancestry in Poland. His mom is half Sudanese and half British. He grew up unvaccinated in Brooklyn, but now advocates for public health. He is tall and lanky, with a strikingly sharp jawline, a deep voice, curly hair, and white skin, and people are always guessing what his background is. Its just a fun little surprise sometimes, I enjoy seeing how people react, he said.

Also gotten young Christopher walken, Malcolm gladwell, joe from you, it goes on ##fyp##foryou

Arnolds comedy runs the gamut from impressions of Donald Duck and John Mulaney to absurdism; recently his videos have largely featured him making egregious puns in a sing-songy monotone (somehow it works).

And, Arnold has leveraged his comedic skills and biography to bring insight to many of the major issues, such as last summers Black Lives Matter protests. Even in the apps 15-60 second window, his comedic commentaries hit home.

Asked whether his Sudanese heritage gives him the n word pass a hot-button issue on TikTok, where stars have frequently gotten in trouble for mouthing the word while lip syncing Arnold posted a succinct video explaining his feelings about the issue.

The n-word still holds a lot of violent power behind it, he said. But you know what Id feel if someone said that to me? Id be confused, Id be like get your eyes checked. Regardless of my heritage, I function and walk through the world very much as a white person. And in virtually all situations, it is impossible for me to receive the sting of that word, so I cant use it as a word of camaraderie.

The Forward spoke with Arnold about identity, comedy, politics and the way TikTok has changed his life. Highlights from our conversation are below.

Being Sudanese is something that I hold very deeply in my heart and in my identity, and I feel very comfortable owning that side of myself.

I would say a big part of the Black American experience is the fact that your history has been taken away from you because a lot of people are descended from slaves. Whereas I know exactly what my cultural and national identity is. Its a different thing, but it is also something that we can relate on.

Help wanted ##joke##comedy##comedian##leggings##silly##fyp##foryou##sudanese##food##thicctok##thicktok##goodbye

I remember when I was in middle school, I mentioned to a teacher like, Oh yeah my mom is Black. And this teacher corrected me and said, I think you mean African American. Which is on one side is just like, kind of shitty, but on the other hand it was also wrong! My mom is an American citizen now, but if anything that goes to show how this American viewpoint of things is a little bit myopic.

When I was maybe 2 or 3 years old, we were visiting my grandmother in Florida, and my mom had me sitting on her lap, and these friends of my grandmother started playing matchmaker for my dad. By this point my parents had been married, but they pretended that my mom didnt exist. And my dad told me about one or two stories, about a cousin who was very clearly racist and she said that she worked at a factory but there were too many schvartzes. Even though I know that most people on that side of the family were not racist to my mom and never did or said anything to me, it did kind of sour my opinion on them.

Is this a thing? A Jewish tradition they dont tell you about? Everyone please weigh in. Was she even real?? ##storytime##comedy##funny##fyp##foryou

I told this story on TikTok, and I prefaced it by saying Im half Jewish but I dont know a lot of cultural stuff, is this something a lot of people go through? I guess sort of half a joke. But then the comment section was littered with people saying, Which half Jewish is it, your mom or your dad? This matters. Or other people saying, If its your dad, youre not Jewish at all, you cant be half Jewish.

It was a lot of needling arguments, it was trying to take away. It really bothered me because every now and again, I wonder if I want to like, just learn a little bit more about the culture and practices and stuff. But anytime people talk about purity or bloodlines, I just shut down, like we dont have anything to talk about, I dont have patience for it.

I dont look like some of my family members, I dont immediately look like my moms child. Weve had trouble going through airport security when I was a kid. Weve even been kept from planes because they thought I was maybe her hostage.

When youre mixed but only look white ##mixedproblems##standupcomedy##comedian##comedy##funny##storytime##fyp##foryou##foryoupage

[Comments] will say stuff like stick to comedy, stick to impressions. But whats really sweet and I find honestly kind of heartwarming is I have much nicer followers who I align more with who will say He can do whatever he wants! This is his page!

On one hand, I think its important to understand that you have the potential to hurt people with the platform you have and the things you say, so you should take measures to double-check yourself. But at the same time there are always going to be people who get offended at anything. I like to have healthy self-doubt..

I have a friend of mine on Tiktok who Ive met over quarantine, very talented artist, and he is trans and gay, and whenever I make a video concerning the community I send the video to him and I say, Hey what do you think about it? And he always says Post it, its awesome.

Its definitely changed my life a lot, its probably what I think about, maybe not most of the day, but maybe half of my day my mind glances to it. TikTok has opened so many doors for me. It definitely causes me stress, because the algorithm is something Im always thinking about. But its just allowed me to do so much and its given me an audience, and given me confidence in myself in so many ways, its been an overwhelmingly positive experience in so many different ways.

Yeah I am a TikToker, I definitely do kind of have to say that now.

Mira Fox is a fellow at the Forward. You can reach her at fox@forward.com or on Twitter @miraefox.

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This 25-year-old Ashkenazi-British-Sudanese comedian is blowing up on TikTok - Forward

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Posted By admin on February 6, 2021

Graphic by Hank Yang

From left, Sarah Cushman, Danny M. Cohen, Charlotte Masters (and) Samantha Oberman. The four were recently appointed to the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission.

In December 2020, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced 17 appointments to the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission in an effort to develop the states education on past atrocities in the world. Six of the 17 were Northwestern professors, alumni and students.

Illinois was the first state in the United States to mandate Holocaust and genocide education in all public elementary schools and high schools in 1990. The Commission seeks to offer social studies teachers guidance on how to memorialize the Holocaust and other genocides in public schools across Illinois.

SESP Prof. Danny M. Cohen was appointed co-chair of the Commission.

Were essentially charged with overseeing (the mandate), helping to develop guidelines (and) helping districts and other organizations and schools think about teacher training, Cohen said. We need to support schools to make sure that they have the resources, and that teachers have the skills to be able to implement the mandate.

As a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor and part of the LGBTQ+ community, Cohen said he has strong personal motivations for improving education on the Holocaust.

When I was 18 I realized that Ive been taught about the Jewish narrative of Holocaust history, but no one has ever taught me about all these other narratives, including the queer narrative of Holocaust history, Cohen said.

His research specifically focuses on bringing those hidden Holocaust histories into Holocaust education.

Sarah Cushman, the director of the Holocaust Educational Foundation at NU and a member of the Commission, said she believes the mandate doesnt go far enough. She said she hopes the Commission can help put some teeth into the mandate by defining what Holocaust education should be and how educators should implement it.

(The mandate) doesnt say anything about what people should actually teach and learn, Cushman said. What Im hoping is that the Commission will be helpful to teachers, not (by) creating a particular curriculum, but helping them develop a course or content that is important to them and their students.

Samantha Oberman (SESP 19), currently works as a learning specialist at The Noble Academy in Chicago, was also chosen to be a Commissioner.

Oberman has already attended an Illinois teachers meeting as a representative for the Commission. She said she and other social studies teachers were able to revise the standards to make them more social justice oriented and more inclusive of all people in this country.

SESP senior Charlotte Masters was also selected to join the Commission. Masters, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, brings a youthful perspective to the Commission.

Throughout high school, Masters was part of the USC Shoah Foundation, which seeks to educate students through the testimony survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. Masters also created a speakers bureau to bring Holocaust survivors to speak to students in schools in the Washington, D.C. area.

She said she hopes to break down the facts and details of Holocaust and genocide education and personalize them through first-hand testimony.

For Cushman, education about the Holocaust and genocides serves an important purpose to secondary level students in America.

One of the important reasons to learn about the Holocaust in Nazi Germany is to understand that democracy is fragile and is dependent on the participation of the people who are governed, Cushman said. And if people who are citizens in democracy dont believe in and care for the institutions of democracy, then (the institutions) become vulnerable, and I think thats something that becomes really clear in the history of Nazi Germany.

The Commission is set to have its first meeting later this month, where it will define goals and how to move forward.

Email: [emailprotected]

Twitter: @hankyang22

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NU commissioners appointmented to Holocaust and Genocide Commission - Daily Northwestern

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Posted By admin on February 6, 2021

Chennai:

Yet according to a British poll, some 10% of US citizens say they believe in at least some elements of this absurd theory known as QAnon. The conspiracy theory has also been doing the rounds in Germany and, according to the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which sets out to combat far-right ideologies and racism, it has already attracted some 150,000 supporters. This makes the German QAnon community the largest outside of the English-speaking realm.

A Konrad Adenauer Foundation study conducted from October 2019 to February 2020 found that around a third of Germans were open to conspiracy theories. Not counting children under 14, thats 24 million people. Other polls support this figure, and have found many links between QAnon supporters, COVID-19 deniers and right-wing extremists.

At the click of a mouse

How can such blatant nonsense resonate in an enlightened world? After all, this is the 21st century, not the Middle Ages. The answer is: Its just all a mouse click away. Social networks are the perfect breeding ground for fake news and conspiracy theories. A study conducted in Germany by Correctiv, which describes itself as a non-profit investigative newsroom, concluded that Facebook and YouTube were the platforms on which the most false information was spread, with messaging services such as Telegram and WhatsApp not far behind. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that it took six times longer to reach 1,500 people with real news than with fake news.

Social media platforms are in a predicament. On the one hand, they have tended to defend a very broad concept of free speech and tolerate content that amounts to fake news, profanity and insults. It was only in October 2020 that Facebook agreed to take down content that denies or distorts the Holocaust. Holocaust denial has long been considered a crime in many countries. On the other hand, these platforms are beginning to admit that the rapid spread of fake news and hatred facilitated by their platforms poses a danger as shown by the storming of the US Capitol last month. In response to this wake-up call, some platforms are beginning to hold users to account and have blocked the accounts of prominent and less prominent people. Some also now flag fake news with a warning.

But this isnt enough. Facebook and the rest must also be made liable for content such as fake news and hate speech posted on their platforms. The European Commission has tried to address this with its Digital Services Act but faces the difficulty of navigating the thin line between curbing the spread of fake news and censorship.

Not only that media competence must also be taught more in schools. Young people are more likely to gain their information from social media than traditional news outlets, which need to develop formats better suited to reaching the YouTube generation. These are urgent, crucial changes. Conspiracy theories must be resisted because they harbour the potential to destroy democracies, as witnessed not so long ago in Washington.

Last week, in her speech to the German Bundestag on International Holocaust Day, the activist and politician Marina Weisband made it clear: Being Jewish in Germany means understanding that [the Holocaust] did happen, and that it could happen again. It means that anti-Semitism doesnt start when somebody shoots at a synagogue. That the Shoah did not begin with the gas chambers. It starts with conspiracy narratives.

This article was provided by Deutsche Welle

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MISINFORMATION OVERLOAD: Conspiracy theories, a menace to society - DTNext

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Posted By admin on February 6, 2021

From the day Donald Trump was ushered into the White House to the day he was ushered out, commentators have found comfort in the phrase history will judge. If they mean that historians will not look kindly on Donald Trump and his enablers, they are probably right. But right or wrong, their judgment will probably not matter to future generations. We need look no further than the tension between Jewish history and Jewish memory to understand why this is so.

In his brilliant book Zakhor, which examines the fraught relationship between Jewish history and Jewish memory, the late historian Yosef Yerushalmi claimed that the latter will always best the former. The Jewish imperative to remember declensions of the verb zakhor ring out nearly 200 times in the Hebrew Bible has long had little if anything to do with the writing of history. Until the modern era, Yerushalmi argues, Jews were less interested in establishing historical narratives than in establishing metahistorical meaning. With the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the rabbis had all the history they needed.

Yerushalmis insight oddly echoes the old joke about the two Jewish women complaining about a restaurants fare: The food was terrible says one; Yes, and it was such small portions too, says the other. So, too, with the Jewish response to historys fare: The servings are few and terrible. From the fall of the Temple in 70 CE and the expulsion from Spain to the Polish pogroms and the Shoah, the servings of history have been traumatic. As a result, it is as if everything and nothing has changed over the millennia. If the prophets, writes Yerushalmi, had established the pattern to history based on the destruction of the Temple, it is a pattern that seems to have stuck with us ever since.

Medieval Jews, writes Yerushalmi, continued to subsume even major new events to familiar archetype through the early modern era. In the wake of the Spanish expulsion, Jews did not turn to history and historiography for comprehension, but instead to the Kabbalah for consolation. The mystical teachings of Isaac Luria offered an interpretation of history that lay beyond history. The desire for something more than history to explain history remains embedded in Jewish culture. Reflecting on the massive historiography of the Shoah, Yerushalmi more or less concludes that rarely have so many historians done so much to inform so few. Instead, most Jews have turned to literature and ideology in their search for meaning. The result, Yerushalmi concludes is that while many Jews are searching for a past, they patently do not want the past that is offered by the historian.

All of this casts a sharp light not just on the relationship between Jews and their history, but also between other groups and their histories. While commentators invoke history as the measure by which Trump will be judged, some of these groups have different measures in mind. Clearly, this is case with Americas religious right.. As Andrew Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry argue in their new book Taking Back America for God, this powerful movement embraces a specific vision of Christianitys relationship to American identity and civic life.

We can add American history to that list of relationships. The Christian right is as dismissive of academic historians as early modern European Jews were of the few scholars who sought to base history on worldy, not other-wordly causes. profane history to explain 1492. Then and now, these groups thought traditional historiography irrelevant at best, invidious at worst. In fact, for Christian nationalists like mega-preacher Robert Jeffress, the real purveyors of myth are the trained historians. We are, in their eyes, a benighted profession either clueless or contemptuous of this countrys Christian foundations. Our success, he warns his flock, depends on our country being faithful to those eternal truths of Gods word.

What Lurias followers and Christian nationalists share is the conviction that the pasts meaning is found not in material, political, or social changes, but instead in unchanging and transcendental truths. Then and now, history is not the study of events unfolding causally but instead, as Yerushalmi argues, a series of situations into which one could somehow be existentially drawn. No less important, for both groups, this approach to history seems to endow the individual with the power to participate actively in hastening its messianic liquidation.

The similarities end here, though. One crucial difference between the two religious groups is that the kabbalists did not participate actively by storming palaces and churches. Instead, they limited their participation in repairing the world to performing mitzvahs. As for the Christian insurrectionists, repairing the world means tearing it apart and terrorizing those still wedded to its reality. While Jeffress condemned the insurrection as sinful, he refused to condemn former President Trump declaring: I dont regret for one minute supporting him.

For those of us devoted to our democracy and our world, this moment has existential import. At such a moment, Yerushalmi believed, historians have a crucial role to play. But it is a role that demands an audience. If our books are to be read, we must write them for readers beyond the academy. We cannot succeed by continuing to write on narrow topics in turgid prose. The divorce of history from literature, Yerushalmi lamented, has been catastrophic for both Jewish and non-Jewish historical writing. Those who are alienated from the past cannot be drawn to it by explanation alone; they require evocation as well. The most urgent of mitzvahs that historians can perform is not to tell us to judge who is guilty or innocent, but instead to show us to evoke how we reached the point. This is the first step to take if we hope to avoid reaching such points ever again.

Robert Zaretsky teaches at the University of Houston. His new book, The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas, will be published in February by University of Chicago Press.

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How will history judge Trump and his enablers? Youre asking the wrong question. - Forward

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Posted By admin on February 6, 2021

By Emet Mihajlo l Arnold resident

Its common to find ourselves discontent searching within and asking God for a great mitzvah or life mission. For me, I felt as though my greatest work in life would be my art and film achievements. Having my use of acrylic critiqued by Jemima Kirke, an accomplished portrait painter, seemed to be the capstone award I was waiting for. That idea left quite an empty feeling and I was unable to pinpoint why living my dream didnt fill the void.

In my late teens and early 20s, I battled addiction after my trust was abused and my innocence was stolen. My way of coping was to dive into creativity. Being a history buff, I was browsing the internet for a subject I could write about for a cathartic narrative feature. Sarajevo seemed to find me. I was researching besieged cities while sitting in the cafeteria of Anne Arundel Community College when I read The Siege of Sarajevo and aloud I said, Oh, Bosnia... as if one were reuniting with an old friend one I recall hearing about constantly in my early childhood (late 1990s). Then suddenly, the prettiest voice positively exclaimed, Bosnia?! I am from Bosnia. Perhaps Amna, whom that voice belonged to, was that old friend from a past life.

Being a detail fanatic, I had to know all of the history if I was going to write a decent script. This led me down a dark path in regard to the crimes committed and the shear violence that took place. Shocked, horrified and never again was I the same after learning the truth of what happened to Yugoslavia contrary to what we are told to believe. I am a staunch Zionist, so this mitzvah was easily relatable. Being of service, which I gained from the recovery world, was now my greatest asset.

In 2017, I began volunteering for the 28. Jun nonprofit organization led by recording artist Filip Filipi and Sneana Dimitrijevi. My film career started to become less of a priority as I was reminded of the joy received when we live for others.

Emet is one of our secret weapons, akin to Israels Mossad, Filipi said. It only made sense for a staunch Zionist with a full comprehension of what was perpetrated against Yugoslavia to join our team.

Im one who tries to play surprises on people, but one was played on me when I received my membership card in an unexpected care package put together by Sneana marking the week 28. Jun became inducted in the Forbes Nonprofit Council. This act further drove me to acknowledge the humility of someone halfway around the world who has bestowed compassion and empathy upon me in the past.

Snzeana reminds us of the last queen of Bosnia prior to the Ottoman conquest, Katarina Kosaa. Her intense devotion to her faith, family and absolute strangers is a trait reminiscent of a bygone era, usually recorded in history, as is such the case.

28. Jun is a special consultant to the United Nations and is the only humanitarian organization of the Western Balkans recognized by the United Nations.

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Working With 28. Jun, A United Nations Consultant And Forbes Nonprofit Council Member - Severna Park Voice

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